


is there anybody out there? (are you a freak like me?)

by Thakh_Gaii



Series: lost in a dream i had when i was young (no, i never woke up from it) [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen, Muslim Character, POV James Sirius Potter, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:33:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26912203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thakh_Gaii/pseuds/Thakh_Gaii
Summary: This is going to be a set of disconnected, non chronological short things between stories, even though this entire series is one clump of disconnected events, because why not?
Relationships: James Potter & Original Female Character(s), Teddy Lupin/Original Female Character
Series: lost in a dream i had when i was young (no, i never woke up from it) [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1942549
Kudos: 6





	1. Deep in my bones i can feel you, take me back to a time only we knew (hideaway)

**Author's Note:**

> Can you tell I've been rereading true love or something?
> 
> Title from ROSES by The Chainsmokers and ROZES
> 
> _“Look, Nini, I’m sorry to say this, but by the power of elder sisters vested in me, I’m going to make you and James come get Teddy with me.”_

James ~~Potter~~ Evans was starting to regret getting a double major. As in VERY MUCH REGRETTING it. It was good that his parents didn't know where he was studying, because otherwise he'd have to deal with blocking owls, too.

(Because they’re trying, they all are, but family sometimes hurts more than it heals and that’s when the distance is appreciated)

But yeah. This semester break he was planning to kick back, catch up with Teddy, Al, Fatimah and Scorp and maybe pig out on actual food instead of ramen and coffee.

Nimah enters their shared apartment dramatically, bag of pop-tarts in one hand, and the other using her hijab to mop up the sweat on her brow, before hanging it up and shaking her head. Now that James had actually caught up on sleep and his brain was no longer operating in a caffeinated haze, he realised that he and Nimah looked awful. Their eyes looked like they’d gotten makeup advice from a racoon, and they both stank. Reeked, really.

They look at each other, decaffeinated, sleepless and overworked, and can’t help but laugh. Real, belly laughs, nothing like the bitter humorless laughs that dominated this past week, sleepless and loopy, seeing stars (and not even the sky ones) every time they closed their eyes. They laugh for what seems like a blink and an eternity all at once, breathless and ready to actually sleep for once.

Nimah strides forward and opens out her arms, and James comes in, and they just hug, standing right outside their apartment door. Two barely-adults, relieved.

…

“Look, Nini, I’m sorry to say this, but by the power of elder sisters vested in me, I’m going to make you and James come get Teddy with me.”

It’s four days into break, with sleep debt caught up on, and The Office rewatched and actual food eaten (James never thought that there would be a time, in his childhood, when he stopped liking Pizza, but college begs to differ), and he and Nimah are curled up on the bed, limbs intertwined, reading Voltron fanfic.

Well, they _were_ , till Fatimah called, and now her annoyed mug is taking up the whole screen of the laptop. Damn you, Fatimah.

“What did Teds even _dooo_?” asks James, very much tired of his godbrother doing stupid things.

“That stale loaf managed to _accidentally join a **cult**_.” Wow, this is new. 

“A cult isn’t _that_ far fetched. Hogwarts houses are essentially lifelong cults. Just like...not frowned upon.” points out Nimah. Huh. She has a point there. James shrugs, and Fatimah growls under her breath, muffled a little by the smushed laptop speakers like the rest of her voice and slaps her hand to her head.

“Just...My car’s at your apartment entrance. Get over here, and pack enough junk for a few days. He’s across the state.” James wants to say he’s surprised, but this is just Teddy’s usual dumbness multiplied by his age.  
Fatimah blink out of the screen after one more warning to “Get there or I’ll deck you” , leaving James and Nimah a bit dumbfounded. Nimah (Obviously) recovers first.

“I guess… let’s pack?”  
“Yep. Stupid Teddy.”

…

They’ve been in the car for four hours now, putting The Chainsmokers on repeat and dodging owls that look suspiciously like Sven, the family owl, because snowy owls don’t live in the literal DESERT, Dad! Not subtle.

Fatimah’s parked all of them at a gas station when they all go to get provisions (Junk food that they couldn’t eat during exams) and they all come out with the storekeeper giving Nimah and James dirty looks as they pile the nachos and juice with Aloe Vera cubes (“Ooooooh, so bougie!”) higher than the tops of their heads while singing the Hogwarts School Song at the top of their lungs for no reason at all, because what law enforcement? Nobody even carried their wands on this trip! It’s James’s turn to drive, and Nimah dibs’s shotgun, because Fatimah needs sleep like they need gas station doritos, and they play stupid meme songs, every ASDF movie song, and sing the Hogwarts song again, just for kicks, because they can.

…

The rest of the day (and the next night) goes about the same, with dumb kareoke, Gravity Falls rewatches and telling Teddy that they’re all on their way.

When the party finally does reach the bus station Teddy’s at, he captures (“Teddy, you’re gonna get --mmph!-- reported for --mmph!-- murder by crushing!”) James and Nimah into a GIANT hug, and indicates his head slightly to Fatimah, all while enduring endless ribbing over the fact that he managed to get himself into a cult, because he’s apparently useless without the rest of themm, isn’t he?

( _“Yep.” he says “I am.” while smiling softly like an absolute buffoon and James finds himself feeling just as soft because hey, he loves his brother, alright?_ )

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are appreciated!
> 
> My [ Tumblr](blue-also-writes-now.tumblr.com)


	2. i'm on my way, i'm on my way (i'm on my way to eat your skin!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> crack- hp kids use too much meme slang because they’re all children of tumblr and vine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaha i hate this chapter but the inspiration just...left and now i don't want to ditch it, so here it goes! have some very very short crack

…

The first time it happens, Lily is eight, Albus is ten, and James is twelve. 

It doesn’t make the situation any less weird.

Everyone in the house is sitting at the table for dinner, catching each other up on what’s happened in their lives recently, Albus and Lily complaining about muggle school (again) and James making the two all the more jealous of him by regaling them with his stories of Hogwarts. It’s a typical dinner, until Lily pipes up.

“Four female Ghostbusters?” Lily asks, out of nowhere, and Ginny has no clue what the context for that statement is, but by the look on her children’s faces, she’s assuming that they do.

“The feminists are taking over!” whisper-shouts James, and yes, this conversation no longer makes sense.

“I am an adult virgin.” Albus finishes in an utter deadpan, sending both of his siblings into snorts of laughter that they’re trying not to choke on. Ginny’s trying her best to not choke on the fact that _Albus knows what virgin means_ , which means he likely knows what _sex_ means and—

“What are you saying, kids?” Asks Harry, quite diplomatically considering his hotheaded self, as he tries not to let his confusion show on his face.

“Nothing!” They all reply in unison and move on with a (more coherent) conversation, with no mention of earlier.

Needless to say, Ginny is very, very confused, and mildly afraid, but for now it seems like a good enough idea to drop it.

…

The second time it happens, school is in session and Albus and Scorpius are talking together in the Slytherin bunk they share. They’re talking, and it slips out by accident, an impulse.

“Bold of you to assume I know how to do Wingardium Leviosa.” he says, and while Albus may not have heard what was strange about his answer, Norman, the muggleborn on the next bunk, did.

“Wait, you wizard folk know memes?” he asks, and Albus looks over from the ball that he’s curled up in, in order to not squish Scorpius too much. It’s slight, but enough for Norman to expect an answer.

“Well, I think it’s just me and my family, since Dad wanted us to go to muggle primary schools, but nobody else seems to know what they mean.” Albus says back, and Normal raises his eyebrows perplexedly, which makes him look even stranger, spread-eagles on his bed, dark skin contrasting a light duvet, and with eyes as wide as a two-year-old. He keeps that expression up for a moment, then giggles to himself, and whisper-shouts to Albus.

“No cap that’s just an oof from me.” Albus snorts and whisper-shouts back-

“Big mood”, and they giggle quietly, as to not wake anyone else up, while Scorpius looks at the two of them like they’re speaking in a new language entirely, head tilted in that adorable way that he does sometimes.

By the end of the night, that’s one less person who doesn’t hate Voldemort’s son and the Slytherin Squib, and there is no way that that isn’t a bad thing.

…

It’s chaos in Fatimah and Teddy’s new house, as boxes are unpacked and insults yelled at each other in the friendliest way possible. By now everyone’s at least half speaking in memes and tomfoolery, so it doesn’t seem to be too much of a bother to any of the kids.

“Hey, Lils! On a scale of fre sha voca do to I don’t need a degree to be a clothing hanger, how are you with that crate?” Yells Teddy. Lily looks up, flips the bird at him and yells back-

“Somewhere on a scale from Jared, 19 to yeet myself into the sun!” She hollers’ nd everyone is in peals by now, while the adults once again look on, hopelessly confused.

“What are you even saying…” whispers Uncle Lupin, while Auntle Tonks pats his elbow.

“Pat pat, it’ll be okay.”

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [tumblr](https://blue-also-writes-now.tumblr.com)
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/bloominginthew1)
> 
> [ko-fi! (for new writing commissions!)](https://ko-fi.com/bloominginthewoods)

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are great!


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